Enzo Malcolm woke to the light of the sun as it warmed the naked torso of his body. He stretched and yawned with a growl, then he smiled. Last night’s events came to him as a movie would play in the mind.
He turned on his side to face a sleeping Natalia. He wanted to nestle his face into her neck and breathe in the scent of her body. He would press his erection against her ass to let her know he wanted her once more this morning.
The bed next to him felt cold and empty. Fear clamped his heart that what happened before would indeed happen again. He did not dare open his eyes. If he kept them closed, she would still be here. He could not face rejection once again.
He reached farther across the bed, and the cold faded to warmth. There was a body. Yes, my gods, there was a fucking body in his bed.
His fingers touched the skin of what was a side. He slipped his hand farther up the rib cage then froze. His breath held in his throat, and he gritted his teeth.
More details of last night came back to him, and he realized, in that moment, he was not in his bed.
He was in Phuck’s.
Then, an ungodly eruption of sound roared through the room. Enzo’s eyes snapped open, and he quickly darted back across the bed.
The movement apparently woke the other person when Phuck groaned, then looked toward the movement.
Both men blinked.
“What the fuck were you doing?” Phuck asked. “Were you touching me?”
“Fuck no, I wasn’t,” Enzo said in a lowered voice. “Where’s Natalia?”
“You were running your fucking hand over my goddamned chest, weren’t you?”
Enzo closed his eyes and turned over on his back. Natalia must've left sometime during the night. She’d removed herself from between him and Phuck.
“You realize she planned this, right?” he asked.
“You didn’t answer my fucking question!”
“I thought Natalia was still in the bed, Phuck. Jesus!” Enzo sat up and ran his hand through his hair. “Not everyone wants to suck your dick.”
“Why, you offering?” The leader of the Voodoo Dawgs chuckled.
Enzo looked back over his shoulder and stared at the man in his bed. “I hope like hell we don’t get some disease by sleeping in your bed.”
“Unlike you, I sack my shit. Supernatural or not, I don’t dip my dick in just anything.”
Enzo sighed and stood naked from the bed. His morning wood quickly disappeared between the conversation with Phuck and the chill in the air. He bent down and grabbed his clothes from the night before. “Any idea where she went?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. And Enzo?”
Enzo turned as he pulled on his boxer briefs. “Yeah?”
“Speak of this to no one. If anyone were to know we were asleep in the same fucking bed, I’d never hear the end of it.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t. I never want anyone knowing I shared anything with you.” He bent down to pull on his pants when a hand pushed against his backside, forcing him to his hands and knees. “What the fuck, Phuck?” He turned around and stood to his feet.
“Don’t ever include Natalia in that shit again. You feel me?”
Enzo frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You never want anyone knowing we shared anything? What the hell do you call last night, motherfucker? Or was Natalia just a fucking lay for you to add on your belt?”
Enzo’s jaw tightened, as did his fists. He squared his shoulders, and with heavy steps, he crossed the room to Phuck. As soon as he was close enough, he thrust a fist into the man’s jaw. “Never talk of Natalia like that or your jaw won’t be the only thing I’ll hit.”
“I’m going to warn you once, Sheriff No Dick. You do that shit again, I’ll bury you in a place no one will ever find you and make it look like suicide.”
“Are you threatening an officer?” Enzo shouted and leaned in with fisted hands toward his nemesis.
Phuck laughed, but there was no humor in it. He crossed his arms over his chest. “No. I’m threatening the man who has the other piece of Natalia. You wanna fuck that up, too?”
The words cut Enzo like a hot knife. He took a step back, his heart breaking into pieces. His shoulders slumped, and he looked to the floor. He shook his head but didn’t say anything else.
“Look, I hate you. You hate me. I’m good with that. But Natalia, she’s different. She’s not Brenda. You need to pull your head out of your ass and see that. She won’t put up with your shit. You keep on like you’re doing, she’ll string you up by your dick and have the entire town watch.”
A smirk played on Enzo’s lips. As much as Phuck and he hated each other, the man was actually giving him good advice. Why? It had to be Natalia. Something she did got to Phuck, too.
Enzo lifted his gaze and met Phuck’s. “This changes nothing between us.”
“Better words have never been spoken. Now get your shit and get outta my apartment.”
Enzo grinned and pulled his button-down shirt on, fastened the middle buttons, then turned toward the door. “Hey, Phuck?”
“Yeah?”
Enzo turned around to face him. As much as he disliked the man, there was a newfound respect for him. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, or what it meant yet, but after last night, there was a shift in their world. “Don’t hurt her. You do, I’ll kill you.”
Phuck smiled and pointed to the door. “Get out.”
Enzo grinned and turned toward the door.
“Enzo,” Phuck said before Enzo stepped through the open door. “Call Natalia and have her join us for a late breakfast. We need to discuss the demon residue that burned her hand.”
Enzo gritted his teeth. “If she’s treated like before, I’ll bring hell down on your MC.”
His frenemy scratched his belly with his dick hanging in the wind. No modesty. A grin bit into his cheeks. “Won’t happen again but not because of your insignificant threat.” Phuck snorted like Enzo wasn’t a genuine risk to the Voodoo Dawgs or anyone. “Any man that disrespects her will feel my wrath.”
Enzo hadn’t given Brenda Finch a thought in a few years, until today. When Phuck brought up her name, memories flooded back with it. More than once, she had cheated on Enzo during their marriage. For whatever reason, he was never enough for her. She wanted more, needed more, demanded more of him.
If it wasn’t his time, it was money.
If it wasn’t money, it was sex.
If it wasn’t sex, it was sex with someone else.
Many times he found out.
After getting off work one evening at the sheriff’s office, he’d decided he would surprise Brenda by coming home early. He picked up an arrangement of roses and planned a night of lovemaking.
He’d pulled into the driveway and parked in the garage of their house. He knew something was off the moment he stepped inside. At first it was the smell. Pheromones ran rampant through the house. The scent of someone that didn’t belong, as well.
He set the flowers down on the kitchen counter and drew his Glock from his waist. He pulled the chamber back and loaded a bullet. With his finger on the safety, he walked through the living room.
Then he heard it. The bed knocked on the wall, and Brenda’s voice echoed through the house.
She moaned and screamed out, “Yes!”
His heart plummeted to his gut, and his breath rushed from his lungs as if he’d been sucker punched. In a way, he had been.
He put his weapon away and turned toward the hall that led to their bedroom. With soft steps, he held a hand against the wall and crept along the floor. The closer he moved to his bedroom the stronger the pheromones grew. His heart slammed in his chest, and he bit down on his tongue.
Brenda’s groans grew louder, and he prayed that she was only masturbating and not fucking another man.
Enzo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He let it go, opened his eyes, and stepped around the door jamb.
Brenda was on her back, feet to Jesus. The man on top of her was fucking his wife.
“Brenda,” Enzo said.
His wife gasped.
“Shit, you said he wouldn’t be home!” The guy scrambled off the top of her and pulled the sheet around his waist.
Enzo wasn’t shocked to discover he recognized him as one of Phuck’s men. Even though Phuck wasn’t involved, this made him hate the demon even more. The asshole fucking his wife was lucky Enzo didn’t put a bullet in his dick. When news of this got back to Phuck, he’d probably snicker and laugh with his man about pulling the wool over Enzo’s eyes.
God, he felt like a gullible fool.
“Well, I’m home motherfucker. Time for you to get out.” Enzo pulled his gun again and pointed it toward the man. “You’d willingly fuck a married woman?”
“Enzo, put that away,” Brenda yelled.
The guy shrugged. “She told me y’all were separated!”
Enzo looked at his wife and lifted a brow. “Pack your shit and get the fuck out of my house.”
“Last time I checked, it was my house, too,” she countered. “Why don’t you leave? You’re never home anyway. Why do you think I fool around?”
He shook his head. “You have five minutes to get out.” He turned to the man. “What’s your name?”
“Uhh, Jerry.”
“Well, Uhh Jerry, you have five seconds before I blow a hole where your dick used to be. Five.”
“Wait.” Jerry grabbed his clothes. “I’m out!”
“Four.”
“Enzo, stop it,” Brenda screamed.
“Three.” Enzo flipped off the safety and took a step toward Jerry. Putting a hole in his dick wouldn’t kill him, but it’d hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.
“Phuck will hear about this!” Jerry ran past him and stumbled in the hallway.
“Two, motherfucker,” Enzo yelled. “I better hear the door slam before I reach one!”
“Lorenzo Malcolm,” Brenda yelled and climbed out of their bed. She stood naked, hands on her hips. “Stop it right now!”
“One!”
The front door slammed shut.
Enzo kept his eyes on Brenda. “You have four minutes to get the fuck out before I have you arrested.”
“Arrested for what? I haven’t done anything.”
“I’ll call one of the Voodoo Dawgs’ women to come out here and tell them you’re fucking one of their men.”
Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t!”
“Oh, wouldn’t I? I’m sure they’d love to hear how the sheriff’s whore wife has been fucking her way through the Voodoo Dawgs of New Orleans.”
Enzo shook himself from the memory. Since the night his wife left, he’d been sinking his dick into Voodoo Mama’s women at the B&B. He never kissed them, never got on a first-name basis… Well, their real names anyway. He fucked with no remorse. He had zero fucks left to give anyone.
Until he met Natalia and all of that changed.
Last night when she said she wanted him as much as he wanted her, the wall around him came crumbling down. When their lips met, his heart melted and began to beat again for the first time. She was the wrecking ball, and he never even stood a chance.
Enzo smiled and it felt good. His heart leapt and his stomach fluttered with thoughts of Natalia.
Then he remembered what she’d asked for.
“No strings.”
Could he do this? Yes. Did he have a choice? Absolutely. He would make this work, even if the biggest obstacle of his life was the President of the Voodoo Dawgs motorcycle gang.
Enzo would ensure Natalia was his mate. He felt it last night during their kiss and their lovemaking. She was his and he was hers.
Self-doubt poked at him with the words ‘No strings,’ like a demon encouraging an alcoholic just one more drink.
“This will work,” he told himself.
Even with Phuck as part of the puzzle, this would work out. He’d never been part of a triad, a poly relationship. However, in a way, it felt right. He wasn’t sure why because he hated Phuck, but after this morning, the hate didn’t fume as hot as it had the day prior. It simmered, like a pot of boiling water removed from the hot stove.
In time, the water would settle and become chilled. Would this happen between him, Natalia, and Phuck? Would their pot of boiling water grow calm, or would someone pour oil into it? Would someone shake the mixture to force an impossible bond?